100 Black Men: Making a Difference for Town Creek Middle School Student
Jeremiah was an 8th grader this year at Town Creek Middle School. This was his first year with the Communities In Schools Action for Success Program. Jeremiah had a very rough start to the school year. He was getting into a lot of trouble at school. and was having problems with his home life and it was reflected at school. His Success Coach Maureen Norcross worked with him as much as she could because he would come to school for less than a day and get suspended. She had a meeting with his mom and his favorite teachers/staff members and started to encourage him each day to do better and take breaks when needed. The staff team also started a weekly incentive with him. He was in the 100 Black Men Program mentoring program that the Success Coach facilitated at the school and as the year progressed, he was participating more and more in the program. Ms. Norcross would check in with him to see what he was taking away from the sessions. The last quarter of school Jeremiah only had 2 office referrals and he also brought his grades up in 2 of his core classes, going from F’s to A’s! He went from having 50 office referrals last year to 34 for this school year. Even though he had a lot both years, he did much better this school year and his outlook completely changed from the beginning of the school year to the end of the year. As you can see from the photo, he was very proud of his accomplishments, as we all are!
Jeremiah will transition to high school in August, but he has learned some valuable lessons about how your success is affected by your actions. He now has confidence and knows he can get good grades if he attends school regularly, regulates his emotions, and focuses on learning. CIS wishes Jeremiah all the best as he transitions to high school!
